The Best of the Rejection Collection: 297 Cartoons That Were Too Dark, Too Weird, or Too Dirty for The New Yorker

The best of the worst: these cartoons rejected by The New Yorker were deemed too dumb, too weird, or too naughty—but not for lack of laughs! Every week, hundreds and hundreds of cartoons pour into The New Yorker.

Most are rejected.

Doesn’t matter how big a deal the cartoonist is, either.

Roz Chast, David Sipress, Kim Warp, Sam gross, Ed Steed, Emily Flake, Navied Mahdavian, or Mary Lawton—if the work in question is too weird, too naughty, too juvenile, or too dark, it’s out.

Luckily for us, Matthew Diffee has been bravely sifting through the circular file to rescue the best of the worst.